Red Movement
by mistlove
Summary: Stephanie ignores Barbara's warning and goes to meet Jason, even knowing how dangerous he is.


**Title:** Red Movement  
**Summary:** Stephanie ignores Barbara's warning and goes to meet Jason, even knowing how dangerous he is.  
**Author:** mistlove  
**Copyrights:** Plot is mine. Everything else belongs to DC Comics.  
**Warnings:** Violence, strong language.  
**A/N:** This is the Day 9 prompt "move" for the 30 Days of Writing Challenge I'm doing on tumblr. (morningskylight . tumblr . com) Sorry I'm late in uploading! This has been on tumblr for awhile now.

There's a small callback to the day 3 prompt about Jason and Barbara in here.

* * *

As Stephanie swings from decrepit building A to decrepit building B, she sees him below her, his bright red helmet shockingly vibrant under the dim lights.

"Hey, O."

Barbara makes a soft sound that lets her know she's listening.

"If he's wearing a red helmet and he's not some guy playing at being a psycho Santa Clause, is it safe to assume it's Jason Todd?"

Sharp silence meets her before Barbara starts talking. Her voice is calm and strong. It's the kind she used when ordering around the Birds of Prey, a tone she uses when she doesn't want an argument. "Stephanie. I know what you're thinking, so _don't._There aren't any surveillance systems down there I can hack into to help you. Get out of there now."

"Aw, c'mon. I wanna meet him, if he's half as gorgeous as he is in the pictures."

"Stephanie, this is not not up for debate. I want you to get out of there now. He's _dangerous_."

"And I like danger." Stephanie grapples and swings lower and lower, keeping an eye on the fight below. "We'll be a beautiful match, more so than Damian and his knives."

"Stephani-"

She mutes her com. Barbara will hear everything she and Jason say, so it's not too reckless and stupid. She knows she is taking a huge risk, but she's also insanely curious and really, how bad could he be?

Jason finishes off the last thug before spinning around to shoot at her grapple line. The bullet hits, but the line is too thick to sever. It does wobble her a bit before she jumps down to land in front of him. Oh, she forgot to do that cool spread-the-cape move to make herself look more menacing. Well, she doubts Jason is the type to be intimidated anyway.

Jason lowers his gun, but doesn't holster it. He's huge, a foot taller than her and built. He shifts his stance, tense, but curious.

"Well, well. What do we have here." Jason scuffs his boot against the ground, twirling his gun in his gloved fingers. "A little lost bat. What are you, the third Batgirl now?"

Stephanie raises her chin and tries to draw herself up to stand a little taller. "The third and most perfect Batgirl at your service."

Jason cocks his helmeted head, seemingly amused. "Cute. Did Dick give up finding menacing girls? Barbara and Cass made people shit their pants. You?" He takes a challenging step forward. "Not so much. You don't take after the Boss like the other two did."

"Isn't that what everybody thought about Robin?" Stephanie challenges, hands on her hips. Jason's huge so he probably moves more slowly. She'll have a speed advantage if things get nasty. "That he was a stupid little kid they didn't need to worry about?"

"The Joker didn't think so."

Jason _moves_and suddenly her head cracks against the slimy wall. Her arms are pinned painfully behind her back as Jason presses her into the wall with one hand on her stomach and the other on her throat.

"Dick's getting sloppy. Sending a half-baked high school girl-"

"I'm in college, thank you ver-hghk-"

"College girl. Whatever," Jason scoffs before leaning into her bat ear. "Barbara. I know you're listening. You in charge of this chick?"

"Khhh-" Stephanie kicks her legs, but Jason sidesteps them smoothly. "C-Com's muted-"

"Well then." Jason clicks the speaker switch by the tip of the cowl's ear and Barbara's voice comes buzzing to life.

"Jason! Let her go."

"Oh, but there's no fun in that." Jason's voice is full of cold, bitter mirth. "What do I get in exchange for her, Babsy?"

There is a momentary silence on Barbara's end before she replies calmly, "An electrogooperang."

"Wha-"

Stephanie manages to wiggle an arm out to chuck said electrogooperang at Jason's feet. It explodes and catches both his feet in a sticky mess while sending a shock up his body. He cries out but hangs tight to Stephanie. His armor is semi-electricity-proof so once the electricity runs out of the batarang, all Jason needs is a quick headshake and he's sober again. But his grip is loose enough that Stephanie can slip through his fingers. She cartwheels to the side and out of the way.

"I think I gotta get me one of those." She can see Jason nod approvingly out of the corner of her eye, looking down to inspect the goop hardening around his legs. "Could be useful. Cute toy too." He reaches into a belt pocket and drops a small black ball that explodes in smoke. When it clears, the goop has all but disappeared. He starts towards her again slowly. "Nice try, Batgirl, but I've done some Tony Starking of my own."

Barbara suddenly speaks up again. Her tone is one of long-suffering patience and tiredness. "Let her go, Jason."

"Or _what?"_ he demands, stopping a few feet in front of her. "You have no fucking leverage, Barbara. See, if Cassiebat was in Gotham, which she is pointedly not, I _might_be a little scared. But otherwise? You got nothing."

He _moves_ at Stephanie again and it's all she can do to dodge and fire back a quick counterstrike.  
Jason bats away her kick like it's a mosquito's sting and lunges at her. She stumbles before regaining balance and diving out of the way of his attack.

"You _know_the things I could do, Jason," Barbara's voice resounds. "I have you tracked so well, you can't brush your teeth without me knowing where you are and what brand you're using."

"For the record," Jason hurls a punch at Stephanie's head, which she nimbly ducks. "Colgate is the best."

Barbara doesn't humor him like she normally does, instead, she continues her threat. "I could broadcast your location to the police, to all the enemies you've made. I can lock up all your suppliers. I can make your life _miserable."_

_Stephanie_has never heard Barbara ever become so explosively angry. She's far away from this place, safe behind a screen, but her voice brings her presence here.

"But you wouldn't," Jason answers back confidently. "I _know_you."

There's something there. Something in the way they talk to each other. Jason and Barbara have a connection of sorts- she can't explain it- but it's there.

"Just because we reached a mutual understanding _once_does not mean you are suddenly an expert on me."

"That quality time we spent in that ditch helped me dissect you a bit, Babs."

Jason swats away Stephanie's punches and jabs like it's child's play. For her, moving this fast, this accurate, this powerfully takes effort. For him, it's second nature to go all out and not hold back unless he feels like toying with someone. Which he evidently feels like doing now.

"Anyway," something in Jason's tone changes. "I know you're stalling." He nails her hard with an uppercut to the gut.

Stephanie folds in on herself, collapsing to her knees. This morning's breakfast comes surging out onto the ground. This is a fucking joke, she thinks to herself as she gasps. Jason hits like a goddamn gorilla on steroids.

"Robin'll be here any minute, I'm betting." Jason taps a patronizing hand between the cowl's ears. "And that's one murderous brat I don't feel like dealing with right now." He starts jogging off the other way.

And Stephanie is suddenly so _angry._ She's failed and been humiliated before. She doesn't know when to retreat, when to give up, and that's always been her strong point. She never runs from a fight unless she's ridiculously outclassed. But more often, she usually throws herself at the guy, hoping for the best. She doesn't always win, there's back-up of some kind usually, and the villain either makes an escape or gets bagged and tagged for Gotham PD. But Jason's just _leaving_her like this. Okay, he knows backup is coming, but he could finish her off right here in a matter of minutes. But he doesn't. And that makes her angry.

Stephanie wipes at her lips messily, slurring out her challenge. "Finish what you started..."

"You got guts- oh heh maybe not the right word to use. Well. You got spunk." Jason glances back and commends. "But I don't kill or cripple other vigilantes." He pauses. "Even if they piss me the fuck off with their self-righteousness and justice."

He _moves _and in an instant, he's gone and out of her sight.

Stephanie should feel relieved that she can hear Damian's grapple hitting the building behind her and Barbara's breathless sigh through the com. She should be glad she's alive.

But all she can think about is the way Jason moves with startlingly grace and power and that she wants to learn how to move like that.


End file.
